55 
ARGYROEPEIRA VENTRALIS. Thop. 
1877. Mettt ventraiis, Thor. Studi, etc., i., p. 425 (S3), 
18S7, Argyroepeira id. Ragni Birmani. etc., p. 138. 
1895, », id. The Spiders of Burma, p. 15 s. 
Description of Plate 55? — a, spider, mag.; natural size; profile; d, eyes; 
cephalothorax, underside ; epigyne. 
Total length, 7^5 \ cephalothorax, 3 ; breadth, 2 ; do. in front, I'/e | abdomen, 5 ; 
breadth, 2'/3 ; height, more than 3 millim. Leg, i, — 22^2 ; ii.—iS'/^ ; iii. — 7: iv. — r2 
millim. Patella + tibia, i v. — 3'/^ millim. Fake, miUim, long. (Thorell.) 
This spider, which is very common at Singapore, makes an extremely variable snare, 
The snares are suspended at any angle from horizontal to perpendicular, and in some 
cases have a free segment, and in others the circle is complete. 
Where the spider makes a free segment it has generally a trap line, leading to its nest 
close to the snare, which it holds firmly, the legs being stretched out in a line ; sometimes 
the head being towards the snare, hut often not. 
When the spider constructs a complete orbicular snare horizontally it often remains on 
the under side in the centre, and in one case when it ran out to capture a fly it dropped 
down and then climbed up the line, which it spun as it went out, to the centre again. 
Snare from 5 — 15 inches in diameter, 
Rays ... 20—30, meeting in % inch circle. 
Inner spiral, 2 — 4 turns. 
Free zone, 1 — i^inch. 
Outer spiral, 20— 33 turns, adhesive. 
Usually the free segment is in tht: upper quarter, but in one case it was in the lower 
quarter. The outer spiral has more threads on the side opposite the free segment than at 
the free segment 
